How can a nation that cannot provide security for its own people, hope to restore democracy in Iraq and Afganistan? This is New Orleans blogger Maitri on the devastation:

A few states kindly offer shelter, guards and other help, but this is not enough. America needs to understand the sheer gravity of this horrible situation. We have frantic and desparate people who are shackled to New Orleans without food, water and safety. They have no way to get out thanks to rampant crime and limited access to evacuation facilities. We need to get these people out with security escorts before we can talk about repair and restoration. To borrow the words of Rep. Carolyn Kilpatrick (MI), these are tax-paying American citizens, your fellow people, not refugees. Where are the troops?
… America, if you are reading this and have an iota of conscience, drop whatever it is you are doing and call whomever you know in power to help get troops and resources down there. I’m not asking, I’m begging. We need your help.

It is sad that a people - and i am not talking about their government - that has been so open with their purse strings when it comes to helping othere in their time of need - is in this situation. The American Red Cross is taking on line donations here. So is Second Harvest. So even if you aren’t in the USA, but want to help - you can. Go over and help a people who have been there to help you.

Katrina - has gone and her wake left behind remains of a society. It is not about flooding or what the environment throws at us. It is the way civil society behaves while disaster strikes.

Lavanya - a friend of mine who is originally a Delhiite - told me during our own terrible Tuesday - go down on your knees and thank God that you live in Mumbai, in Delhi you whould have been molested and or raped before you reached home. She had to walk home from Parel to Andheri West. She said, Mumbai is amazing. strangers helped us. took us home. gave us shelter and food. and It won’t happen anywhere else. I kind of brushed it off saying that most people help each other in these kind of events. But, then I saw the post Katrina disaster unfold on television. The blogs that i read are more explicit in nature - vis-a-vis the breakdown in society.

Is the veneer of civilisation so thin that it is easy for us to revert to barbarianism at the first sign of adversity. Aren’t adversities like this supposed to bring societies closer together?

A long time ago - i remembe reading a Batman Graphic Novel. The series was called No Man’s Land - and the images that come out of New Orleans, could have been out of Gotham - beseiged by plague, earthquake and criminal elements. Those who can, have left the city. But the bulk - the poor, the helpless, the underbelly - stay behind. And soon there is pitched battle. The Government declares Gotham as “No Man’s Land” and shoots to kill anyone who tries to get in or go out. Law and order - is bravely maintained by Gordan and his merry band. But, it is a police force stretched to the limit. But, then Gotham had Batman to bring it back from the brink. Whom does New Orleans have?

Today I was watching Charles Wheeler on the BBC - talking about poverty, race and the inequity of the American system. He said that most people who didn’t leave didn’t have the money to leave. He asked a simple question. If disaster is to strike London, the rich - those who can afford it will leave for the country side. But, he asked, can you imagine a situation where the Mayor or the Government didn’t make adequete arrangement to evacuate those who couldn’t? I hope we never see a day like this in India where market forces determine who stays and sinks, and who goes off to safety.

Update : if you want to help the BBC has a full section here.
Read the Beeb’s correspondents on the human side of the tragedy.

Tags: Society, US, World